8100-8100D5
by Vequiloudicus
Summary: Equius is recruited by the Sky Pirate Vriska to participate in a resistance against the wicked Queen. Her team, called the Sea Rulians, rivals Meenah's, who each have their own plans to end the Queen's reign. But where does Equius' loyalty lie? Fantasy AU.
1. Dark Lusii

8100-810085

_You really have no idea what you're doing, do you?_

_..._

_Come on. Just admit it._

_I don't, but..._

_I'll be strong._

* * *

The Kingdom of Alternia always put you in your place, whether you looked up at the palace in the sky, at your own wretched home in the earth, or you looked at the freakly colored blood in your veins. Everything told you where you should be, what you should do, what you should like and how you should talk. Who you would spend time with, who you would despise, who you would look down on, and who would look down on you.

Equius listened to his blood color. He spoke in a very dignified manner, and had exquisite taste in various forms of art. He loathed the lowerbloods as he should, and admired those higher than he, save the Hightest, though he had deep respect for them once his hatred was placed aside.

He lived in the icy mountains as blue bloods were commanded to, even near the tops, as his was the highest of the blue bloods.

There were only three things that separated him exponentially from the other bluebloods.

He was exceptionally strong, wrathful, and couldn't arch to save his life.

To be able to successfully fire an arrow was what he wanted most in life, for with that, he would be able to serve at the Palace, taking the place of Darkleer as he felt he rightfully should someday.

But for now, Equius lived in a large, darkly-colored house on a cliff side, hidden amongst the heights of the Blue Mountains, far away from his own kind and overlooking the blue sea, a rare sight for the average Troll, but not for highbloods such as he.

His home was two stories tall, and was made entirely of black and bluewood on the inside and out. He had lived here his entire life, and only he knew how to get there.

On the side of his house his dark horse, Hecarim, nonchalantly observed nature.

It was a common saying that troll children raised by Dark Lusii were destined to be outcasted somehow, but Equius had always felt that he was a special case, that he was destined for greatness, and that was how he would be different, that was why he would be outcast from his fellow bluebloods.

It would be a small price to pay.

One early morning, long before the sun had risen, Equius decided to practice his archery somewhere out of sight from his fellow bluebloods, so he tightened Hecarim's saddle, packed multiple bows that he made out of bluewood and rode off. He took one last look at the blue ocean, dedicating it to his memory for the sake of his calmness, before turning down the hill towards the Green Forest, where the greenbloods resided.

He felt sick at the thought of traveling through the territory of a lowerblood, but it would be better for him to practice there, where he would be surrounded with potential material to make new bows and arrows, in the incredibly likely event that he would all of the bows. All of them.

He rode quickly down the stretch of blue stone through the territory of the bluebloods slightly lower than his own, hoping that the darkness of the night would seclude him enough to not be noticed, or at least recognized. One look at the dark Lusus would likely give him away immediately.

The air was icy cold against his face as his hair and cloak blew behind him. Hecarim was running well tonight. Equius wondered if Hecarim had been longing for new sights like this, and felt a sudden twinge of guilt. He made a mental note to praise him later, when his voice could be heard without him having to shout. He was such a noble blueblood, like himself, and he was to be commended. And perhaps given a treat.

Sometime later, they arrived at the edge of the greenblood's forest.

He halted Hecarim and looked at the edge of it, seeing that it was full of darkness.

"Good hoofbeast," Equius said softly aloud as he pat the back of it's head as softly as he could with his great strength. Hecarim huffed in agreement. Equius smiled.

They rode in slowly once they found an opening, traveling down a shady path. The light of the moon offered just enough light in the clearing for them to proceed, but not without caution.

"Careful, Hecarim. There may be mischievous greenbloods about. Keep your distance from the bushes."

In time, they came to a large clearing that he decided would be adequate for training.

He dismounted and unloaded a bow from the bag attached to Hecarim's saddle, along with a blue fruit, his hoofbeast's favorite. It had been some time since Hec had had one, for Equius was careful not to spoil him with sweets so as to help him be at peak strength, so he was excited to see his reaction. He smiled as he walked up to Hecarim's head.

"Hecarim, you displayed exceptional STRENGTH!" he exclaimed, then looked around cautiously as to find if his... outburst brought anyone out of hiding. At finding that it did not, he went on. "You are to be commended. Excellent work, my hoofbeast." He gently patted his nose. "And rewarded." He pulled the blue fruit out from behind his back and the hoofbeast snorted excitedly and lifted it's front legs off of the ground in celebration.

Equius smiled and held it up for it to eat. It devoured it in seconds. Good beast, he thought, but decided to refrain from further praise, to prevent Hecarim from tiring of it or becoming overwhelmed by it.

He looked up at the dark blue sky and inhaled deeply. I will fire an arrow, he thought to himself. The bow will stay perfectly intact, despite my excessive STRENGTH, and I will remain calm in the event that it does break.

He turned to his target and the bow broke in seconds.

He looked at the broken bow in his hands blankly, before the rage inside of him began to surge, and he angrily broke it further into smaller pieces.

Feeling a measure of satisfaction having broken something intentionally, he decided that he was calm enough to once again attempt to fire an arrow.

Because the tension in his body, this one broke even more quickly than the last.

Outraged, he began to take his wrath out on surrounding trees, and uprooted a bush that he sent flying into the air in pieces, all while screaming manically.

Several minutes later, once he had taken out a great measure of his rage out on his surroundings, he sat down, breathing heavily, sweat running down his face. It felt remarkably unpleasant in the cold night air.

"...I need..." he said softly aloud as he rose from the ground and began to search through Hecarim's bag.

A few moments later, he realized that he had forgotten to bring any drying cloths, which sent him into another wrathful episode.

Suddenly Equius felt something hit his left side hard, sending him falling to the ground. He landed hard on his back and looked up to see a feline-like face far too close to his.

"You're scaring my dinner away! Stop it or I'll scratch you up good!" she shouted in his face, then growled.

Equius immediately realized that she was one of the mutated greenbloods, the forest dwellers called Felins. He began to sweat profusely, and he felt like vomiting up days' worth of food, having even touched one.

He slid out from underneath her, ignoring the scratch that she managed to make on his face. He lowered himself down to his hands and knees and panted. It was the first time a lowerblood had ever touched him, and he felt... Dirty...

After calming himself down a bit, he realized that it wasn't too bad, considering she was technically considered a mid-blood. He took a measure of comfort and rose from the ground.

"It is not befitting of a blueblood to take orders from a mid-blood such as yourself," he said as he stood proudly.

"Blegh," she responded, sticking her tongue out at him. "You're a Blue Mountain person? What are you doing here then? Aren't you afraid you'll catch our sicknesses or something?" she said, rolling her eyes at the word "sicknesses."

He didn't hear a word she said, as he was distracted by the dead animal that she had draped over her body like a cloak, that matched the green-grey fur on her small top and shorts, as well as the large animal paws she wore over her hands and feet. A black tail swished playfully behind her, and her black cat ears twitched. They appeared to be rather redundant below her horns that were also shaped like cat ears.

It was sickening.

"You… You…" He couldn't even find the words he wanted to say to her.

"Wow, you have a dark Lusus too?" she said, sounding amazed.

"I—Yes," he replied as she ran up to Hecarim's head, sniffing it. "You… Have one as well?"

"Oh, yes! Nidallee, come out!" she called.

A very large, black cat leapt from the bushes, then circled around the clearing. It stretched it's, curled up and rested.

Equius' face flushed blue; he had never seen another dark lusus before.

"It's… Beautiful…" he said aloud. He took a step forward and reached out to it, overcome with a powerful urge to touch it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, she'll think you're food!" she laughed. She walked up to it and nuzzled it's head.

His opinion of her improved suddenly, seeing that she was capable of love for an animal, aside from loving it's fur.

He thought back on the saying that dark lusii marked an unusual individual, and wondered if, perhaps, she would be an exception to the rules of the dirty greenbloods. The saying was credible, as it came from purplebloods.

"…my name is Equius Zahhak, greenblood. I will learn more about you."

"Hi Equius!" she said happily. She got into a pouncing position, but Equius didn't recognize it. Moments later he found himself knocked to the ground once again. "My name is Nepeta!"

* * *

_What do you think of that greenblood that's always with you?_

…

_Well?_


	2. Cave

_Does she matter to you, really?_

...

_What a soft blueblood._

* * *

Equius sat and listened as Nepeta informed him of her entire life, from when she was a small grub being tended to by her Lusus, then about when she became her Lusus' best friend when she became less dependent on her.

She related tales about her tribe that were scattered throughout the forest, tales of great hunting adventures, and about the woman she aspired to be like someday, who currently served in the Palace as it's lead hunter.

In a rather short period of time, Equius had learned more about her than anyone in his entire life.

He silently stared into the space in front of him, taking in all that he heard.

He had found it rather remarkable that someone such as herself had taken an interest in the matters of those higher than she, those with the grand privilege of serving at the palace.

He felt that he might enjoy this greenblood's company, as strange as the thought was, and he wondered how he might keep in touch with the young woman.

"Tell me where you live." He commanded plainly.

"I live right here, in the forest! ...but you already know that..."

"Yes, I do. I meant, where specifically. Surely you have some sort of specific hive, or a particular part of the forest that you reside in."

"Hmm..." her nose twitched as she thought. She then got on her hands and knees and crawled to him, sniffing his clothes and his face, which flushed blue and he began to sweat again. She scrunched up her nose and shook her head.

"Ew, you're so sweaty!" she said. "But, what's this I smell?" she said playfully as she sniffed him again.

"What? Tell me, I command it."

"...I smell... A good person! Trust me, this nose knows that sort of thing. I can smell a good person from sooo far away, it's ridiculous!"

"...while I find the notion of being able to smell such a thing foolish, I appreciate the gesture."

She smiled.

"I just know," she laughed. "Okay, I'll tell you where I nap usually. It's my favorite tree! It's very tall, and it smells like this!" She pulled a flowery vine out from a pocket in her shorts and put it under his nose. It had a powerful smell that he didn't like, but its flowers were a soft purple color, which reminded him of strength. He supposed that it was a fittingly STRONG color for a very STRONG, though unpleasant, smell.

"Very well." He rose from the ground and wiped his face with his dark blue cloak. "I will return tomorrow and look for this tree. You will be there." He nodded and began to pick up the pieces of bluewood. When he wasn't looking, she picked a piece off of the ground and placed it inside a pocket in the back of her shorts.

"Why are you picking it all up?" she asked as she pet Hecarim's head, admiring his long, black mane. "It's just wood..."

"I am picking it up because it is finely crafted bluewood. If one were to find it here they would be able to perceive nobility, which may cause alarm and confusion, as highbloods have no business being here, save to hunt lowbloods, but I do not have a lusus in need of such violent measures."

"...oh..." she said quietly. She licked her left paw and swiped it behind her left ear, then licked it again and swiped behind her left horn.

"Yes." he placed the rest of the pieces in Hecarim's bag.

He climbed onto Hecarim and sat in the saddle. He took a deep breath.

"Meeting you was not as bad as I would have imagined, Nepeta. I will see you in the near future." He nodded and began to ride down the path he came from.

"Goodbye, Equius!" she said happily as she waved. He looked at her over his shoulder and rode on.

The Alternian sun was just beginning to rise as he left the shady forest. The light made an awful glare so that he had to squint in order to see. He was angry at himself having stayed so long, but who knew that he would meet a tolerable lowerblood? It was unthinkable that it could happen. Most of them were so depraved and filthy, so very far from civil. Any run-in he had with one was brief and terrifying for the other, and always left him feeling disgusted and full of rage.

But this meeting left him feeling peaceful when he thought about, aside from her pasttime and choice of clothing.

He planned on seeing her again tomorrow.

Navigating around the powerful glare off of the icy mountains, he traveled carefully along the rocky paths. It took him around an hour to get to his home, much longer than usual.

He didn't plan on being gone so long.

When he returned, he found a letter, folded in half, sitting on his blackwood table. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it had a familiar insignia on it.

Marquise Spinneret Mindfang?

He began to sweat.

He opened it up and saw another named signed on the bottom if it, one that bothered him even more.

Vriska Serket, the Sky Pirate. The Untamed Windrider. He felt his body tense as he read the letter, written in blue.

_**My Dear fellow blueblood, Zahhak,**_

_**I came by because I had something very important to discuss with you. Thought you would be interested. I do hope I see you again soon.**_

_**I'll be returning when you least expect it, my dear.**_

_**Don't wait up for me.**_

_**~V.**_

He glared at the letter, sealed with a blue kiss. He crumpled it in his hand and used it to wipe his face. It left blue smears behind, but as long as the letter was no longer legible, it didn't matter to him. It would come off of him soon enough.

He sat down on a wooden chair and stared out of the window, at the open sea. He found himself wondering what it would be like to sail out there in a great ship as people did long ago. He imagined that it would be an incredible feeling to be surrounded by the blue sea, with nothing above his head the blue sky. He would be either alone or surrounded by highbloods, as it should be. He sighed.

"I guess I'll... Sleep now..." he said aloud.

* * *

He awoke again several hours later, as the unpleasantly bright sun was near setting. He stared at the ceiling as he laid on the second floor, which was high up towards the ceiling and without a wall so that he could look down onto the lower floor, to see all of the doors and windows.

If anyone dared to even try and sneak into his home, he'd be the first to know.

At least, that's what he thought, until he rolled over and saw Vriska sitting comfortably in a chair below, leaning back in it and crossing her right leg over her left.

"Sleep well?" she asked with a smile.

"You... What are you doing here."

"Oh, you know, business as usual," she said as she looked down at the nails of her left hand. She noticed a bit of brown blood and quickly wiped it off onto her black pants.

"State your business." Equius rose from his bed and walked to the edge of the upper floor. He was prepared to take immediate action should a fight ensue.

"I'm making something that I'd like for you to be a part of," she explained. She flipped her long, black hair behind her. "Something fun."

"What is it, Serket."

"A team. A team with a very special... Purpose."

"What purpose?"

"Our lovely Queen has been getting worse and worse, Zahhak, ever since poor little Feferi was forced into hiding..." she placed her right hand against her forehead and sighed, shaking her head. "Too soft, I always thought. That nasty Meenah will likely get the throne instead, if she lives long enough to get stronger." She removed her hand and gestured toward Equius. "Certainly you know of all of these going ons so I'll spare you the petty details."

"Please." he said nonchalantly, but he honestly wasn't aware of these most recent happenings.

"Yes moving along. Let's get to the good stuff, shall we?" She rose from the chair and shut her eyes, pausing for dramatic effect. "There's a bit of a game going on, Zahhak. And there's two teams-mine being the superior one, of course-and we all have the same goal."

She looked at him and waited on him to inquire further.

"Tell me what it is."

"To kill the Queen and put someone better on the throne."

Equius' stomach turned. That idea was revolting, rising up against the Queen. It was foolish, completely irrational. He wiped the sweat from his brow and his heart began to race, and the rage inside of him began to swell, like a fire doused with gasoline.

He clenched his sharp teeth together.

"Serket, you have seconds to leave my home before I make you sorry for coming here."

She laughed and shook her head.

"Relax, Equius. We would only be helping one of those fuchsiabloods to take their rightful spot. Just a little meddling against a Queen that's just a little bit worse than nature intended." She crossed her arms, adamant on staying. "We would just locate the missing fuschiablood before any of the others find and kill her. I haven't met the woman but I already know that I like her better than our Queen and that Meenah. She actually seems to care about what happens to the bloods lower than the purples. It's pretty disgusting if you ask me, but at least she won't spontaneously ruin hives just for kicks. That makes my treasure hunting just a bit harder." She smiled. "What do you say? You want to be in cahoots the Sea Rulians?"

Equius glared. It was unthinkable to meddle with the royal affairs. Fuchsiabloods dying at the hands of fuschiabloods was natural, it didn't matter who was more well liked. Only the strong survived, and the weak died at their hands.

"Leave. As your superior I command it."

Vriska smiled confidently.

"You'll change your mind. I know it." She bowed mockingly and placed her black-and-blue captain's hat back on her head and turned to leave. "You'll see me again soon, don't worry about it. I like your stupid lusus, by the way. Same beautiful colors as mine." She shut the door behind her. Equius heard the pounding of eight legs near his house, then leave back into the mountains.

Somewhere, deep down, he had a feeling that she was right, though he knew something massive would have to happen for him to change his mind.

Sometime later, he decided that he would again visit Nepeta, as the Alternian sun set. He whittled several new bows out of bluewood that grew in the mountains, secured his quiver on his back and once again left with Hecarim, descending down to the forest under the cover of darkness.

He slowed Hecarim down a bit as they entered through the same path as before.

He wished that Nepeta had given him better instructions than a plant to look for, as he obviously didn't have a sense of smell like hers. But, as a blueblood, he was confident in his skills.

Not that he needed to be, as he found a small pile of the same, purple plant in the same, small clearing.

He rode up and stared at the pile for a moment, before observing his surroundings and seeing that many more were tied to the branches of trees in a line, the first of which had the symbol ":33" scratched into it. He sighed. The path was not large enough for Hecarim to travel through, so he would have to find her on foot.

He tied a remarkably complex knot as he tied Hecarim to a tree.

"Stay here, my companion. I will return shortly." Hec snorted. Equius imagined that it was in compliance.

He made his way through the dark forest, weaving and bobbing through the various branches while breaking some here and there, some on purpose, some by accident.

The forest was full of trees with gnarled grey bark and bright green leaves, with a mixture of bluewood and greenwood trees spread out throughout the forest.

The smell of the purple flowers became more and more overwhelming, so he figured that he was getting close.

In time, he finally came to a very tall tree, one that was full of the beautifully colored, foul-smelling flowers. He looked up at it for a sign of Nepeta, even circling around it, but saw no sign of her. Annoyed, he turned to leave, but was tackled to the ground by a squealing Nepeta only moments later as she leapt at him from the bushes.

"You came back!" she said happily. "And you played my game to find me!" she nuzzled his head.

His face flushed blue and he began to sweat, thankfully after she had moved away.

"I said that I would." He stated plainly, struggling to keep some composure.

"I know, but bluebloods lie an awful lot," she said sadly. He paused.

"That is true. But in this particular instance I was not. Now get off me. I need to dry off." She complied, hopping onto the ground beside him and watching as he dried his face with a white cloth from a small pouch.

She narrowed her eyes. It was a displeasing sight.

"Now, back to why I have returned."

"Yeah, why?"

"..." He paused, as he realized that he didn't really any questions left for her. All he had was a compelling desire to return, though he denied it to himself. He began to sweat again. Finally, he thought of something. "Let me see your hive. I want to see if there are any similarities to my own."

"Alright!"

She ran up the tree, digging her long claws into it, until she arrived at a branch roughly thirty feet high. Equius stared up in silence.

"It's up here! Can you climb trees?"

Equius stared up at her silently still.

"I am certain that I could," he shouted up at her, "it is just not dignified so it has yet to happen!"

Nepeta's tail swished back and forth playfully as she smiled.

"Niddy Kitty, could you give Mr. Equius a paw, please?"

"What."

Equius felt a large head bump into the back of his knees hard, causing him to fall clumsily onto the back of Nepeta's lusus.

"She's going to carry you up! Hang on tight!"

"What, no, Nepeta," he sat up and threw his legs, one over each side of Nidalee. "that won't work, I'm much too STRONG!" he shouted as the feline darted for the tree and began to run up it with great ease, as Equius limply wrapped his arms around it's neck.

He took hold of the first branch he saw that looked as though it was strong enough to hold him up and carefully shifted his weight off of the large cat and onto the branch. Because of his fear of accidentally killing her lusus, he was sweating terribly. He pulled himself onto a higher, stronger branch and wrapped his arms around it.

"Are you... Alright?" Nepeta asked curiously from five branches up. Her nose twitched.

"Certainly." he replied quickly.

He then wiped his fingers off on the wood and slowly began ascending up the tree, with all the grace of a newborn foal learning how to walk.

Finally, he stood with only one branch separating the two of them.

"That wasn't too difficult," he said as he straightened his posture, taking a more noble pose as he stood upon a very large branch. Nepeta smiled.

"That wasn't too bad for a first tree-climb, very good!"

"Yes." he said plainly. "Now where is your hive."

"Right up there. I live inside of it, in a very large hole. It's so cozy! It's like a cave."

"I see." He reached up to climb onto a higher branch, but it snapped in an instant in his strong grasp, and he lost his balance.

"Equius!" Nepeta said quickly as she thrust out her left paw to catch him, sinking a few claws into his left arm, saving him from a bad fall.

Equius readjusted himself to stand upright once more, hardly noticing the bleeding scratches in his arm.

He stared at her silently, surprised and touched that she had saved his life, even if he was fairly certain that he would survive the fall. He could tell by the look on her face that she thought that the fall would have been a fatal one.

"I'll show you which ones are strong enough to hold you, just follow me!"

He followed her lead, which was a strange and rather humiliating experience for him, but they finally reached her hive. He fell inside and took a deep breath before composing himself and looking around.

Her home had a low ceiling with no windows, and had several drawings on the walls done in yellow and red and green, drawings depicting her lusus and herself stalking prey in bushes and eating and other adventures that he thought looked rather silly.

There were two piles of pelts, a small one and a large one, where he assumed that the two of them slept.

There was a low wooden table with several tools on it, with some fresh meat on it, still wet with multi-colored blood.

It made him feel ill.

Equius took a seat on the floor towards the middle of the room, as far from any blood as he could.

He brought his knees up and wrapped his arms around and cloak around them.

"Are you alright? You're looking a little blue!" She said, laughing a bit as she was pleased at her slight joke.

"...I find your pastime very distasteful."

"What?"

"Slaying beautiful animals for their stunning coats and blood for your clothing and distasteful art."

"Huh? No, that's not why. We hunt them for food, then use the leftover blood for drawings, and the fur we use to make blankets and such. It would all go to waste otherwise. And it's not like we can eat anything else, we need meat."

"...oh..." He said softly. He wasn't sure what else to say, but he did feel a bit comforted.

"Want to hear about my drawings? They're all very exciting tales of our adventures together."

Glancing at the walls, he was about to say no, until he noticed a fresh one done in black and green.

She looked at it. "I drew that one today. It's you, me, Niddy and Hecarim. I used a soft black rock for them."

He blushed as he looked at it, rising from the floor for a closer look. In it, Nidalee was sleeping peacefully on Hecarim's back, and Nepeta slept on Equius' back.

"...go on, Nepeta."

She smiled and excitedly told him of the details behind each of the drawings, sparing him some of the more gruesome bits.

In time, as the time of the sunrise was approaching, he decided that it was time for him to leave once more.

He told Nepeta that he would return once more to see more of the forest, and carefully made his way down the tree under her close supervision, despite his telling her not to.

"Want me to bring you back to Hec?" she asked him.

"That is not necessary. I will find him on my own. Farewell, Nepeta."

"Goodbye, Equius!"

He followed the path that he came from, marked with the foul flowery vines and several broken twigs, and arrived back at his lusus in a matter of minutes as he powered through the confidently.

Hecarim stood nonchalantly, greeting Equius with a slight bob of it's head.

"Good hoofbeast," he said calmly as he mounted himself onto his back.

He rode off from the thick forest, and realized that he didn't even get a chance to practice his archery under the seclusion of the forest. He sighed and decided that he would risk practicing near his own home, despite his extreme paranoia of a fellow blueblood seeing his failure.

As he was approaching the mountains, he noticed a strange glow from behind him.

He turned around to see that the forest was up in flames.

* * *

_Were you scared?_


	3. Up In Flames

_I bet my heart galloped harder than Hecarim._

…

_How embarrassing._

* * *

Equius pulled back hard on the reigns, and turned Hec around to once again face the forest.

"Ride STRONGLY, hoofbeast!" Equius shouted coarsely as he hit Hecarim's sides with his heels. The hoofbeast complied and ran forth with a speed that Equius had not yet seen.

His heart raced and his face became numb as the sweat on his face cooled in the cold wind.

The only thing on his mind was Nepeta.

Equius rode through the forest furiously, as Hecarim rode as fast as he could, sensing Equius' anxiousness.

In time they came to the pile of flowery vines, and Equius leapt from the hoofbeast.

"If the flames get too close, don't stay. I'll find another way out. I command it," he said very sternly. The hoofbeast snorted and nodded his head in agreement. "I will be very angry if you disobey me," he said through clenched teeth.

He turned to the path he traveled earlier and began angrily and tearing through the trees and bushes, traveling at a running speed to Nepeta's hive. In his aggravated state, he could only imagine her being there.

If she wasn't, he didn't know what he would do.

It time he tore through the forest and arrived at Nepeta's tree, which was still a distance away from the flames, but not for long.

"Nepeta! Nepeta!" he cried as strongly as he could. A moment later he saw a dark tail fall limply along a branch, and as he approached the tree's trunk, a bit of green blood fell onto his face. His beating heart sank. "Nepeta, I'll get you out!" he shouted. He backed up, then did a running, very strong jump up at the tree, grabbing it nearly twenty feet above the ground. For the rest of the way, he climbed the trunk by breaking his fingers through the tree's bark to get a proper hold on it.

In time, he found the source of the blood.

Nidallee draped helplessly over a branch, breathing heavily as green blood dripped from the two arrow wounds in her side.

"Oh, you poor, beautiful creature..." he said sadly as he reached out to carefully stroke it's back.

There was only one blood he was aware of that dared to arch.

He examined the arrows. Sure enough, they were made from signature bluewood. Equius felt a new surge of rage swell within him.

"I'll try my absolute best to revive you, dear pawbeast. Once we find Nepeta we will leave at once."

He carefully removed the arrows, getting scratched by Nidallee in the process, and put the lusus on his back, tucking her large paws underneath the chains on the front of his shirt.

Though he assumed that she wasn't inside, he quickly leapt up into her cave and briefly inspected it, finding it vacant as he suspected. He wanted to be entirely certain.

He walked to the edge of the cave and quickly looked around the ground below.

Seeing no sign of anyone, he leapt down, going branch to branch in an attempt to be delicate for the bleeding pawbeast.

In time he reached the ground. He could no longer smell the powerful and obnoxious smell of the flowers, as it was replaced with the smell of smoke.

Suddenly, he heard many screams coming from a short distance in the forest in front of him and behind him. He pulled his bow out and readied it with an arrow, prepared for whatever would come his way.

A dozen feline greenbloods emerged from the forest, running on all fours, looking very frightened as several bluebloods emerged from the forest behind them, some of them carrying unconcious greenbloods over their shoulders.

Equius lowered his bow and stared at them silently.

"What is going on here?" Equius said as he caught a blueblood by his shoulder. This one was of Vriska's color, so he owed Equius a certain measure of respect.

"We have received orders from Darkleer the Executor to execute the majority if the greenbloods, Queen's orders," he explained. "You must have missed the letter."

Equius' heart sank, and he was consumed with mixed feelings. The greenbloods had done nothing wrong to the bluebloods, so this was very undignified.

But Darkleer was the epitome of strength and dignity; yet he authorized such a thing.

"Ow, hey, sir," the ceruleanblood whined, "you're hurting me, quite a lot..." he squirmed beneath his grasp.

Equius released him and began to sweat, staring at the ground beneath him. Nidalee stirred a bit and let out a low growl, snapping him out of his daze.

All he knew was that he had to find Nepeta.

"Halt!" he demanded of the ceruleanblood harshly. "Why are they carrying off the dead and nearly conscious?"

"Probably for Lusus food, or perhaps they'd like a temporary kissmesis. I'm not sure, sir." He smiled nervously at Equius before bowing and running after the blue and greenbloods.

Equius felt mainly rage surging within him.

Where was Nepeta?

* * *

Nepeta hid in the bushes, her heart pounding in chest as she struggled to remain quiet a large female blueblood walked near her with two smaller ones nearby. The female had Equius' blood color on her clothing, and so did one of the males, but one of them bore the color of a tealblood. It made her extra angry that someone hardly bluer than her would participate in such a thing, and it made her even angrier that she had to wait to kill the blueblood that shot her precious lusus, then had the nerve to remark that it wasn't even good enough for food as their was "something wrong with it".

She also knew that she had to leave her hiding place before the flames got too close. Her eyes were already teary from the smoke and from her own grief.

She was so angry she could hardly think straight, but she knew that after taking out one blueblood, as strong as she was she would inevitably be killed. Even attempting to harm a blueblood would get you killed.

She rested in her pouncing position, waiting and waiting, until finally, the bluebloods walked away, as the smoke was making them cough too much. Nepeta, low to the ground, was breathing fine.

She scratched at the ground and sobbed angrily, then decided that she would take her vengeance at another time. She would remember that blueblood's awful scent.

She rose from her spot and began to saunter away, but someone unexpectedly grabbed her by her arm, and pulled her close, hard. She felt an arrowhead press into her neck.

A large blueblood hovered over her, smiling.

"What do we have here?" he asked, breathing heavily. He had green blood on his hand; Nepeta could smell it.

"A lost little oliveblood. I can show you where you're supposed to be, if you'd just-" he froze. "Is that... Indigo blood...?" he asked, looking astonished.

"What...?" Nepeta asked softly. He pulled her paw closer to his face and looked at it.

It was from when she saved Equius from falling.

How ironic that it would mean her death.

"How dare you raise a hand at a highblood! You'll pay for your insolen-!"

Nepeta shut her eyes tight, expecting the crossbow to go off.

Instead, though, she felt it pull away from her harshly, scratching her neck, and the grasp on her arm released. She opened her eyes to see the blueblood on the ground, with Equius angrily standing over him. He picked up his crossbow and smashed it in his right hand, threw it to the ground, then lifted the blueblood by the front of his shirt.

"This greenblood is mine," he snarled at him, then threw him to the ground. "If you come after us I will crush you with my bare hands!" he turned to Nepeta. "Nepeta, we must leave. Hecarim is at our meeting place. We must make haste, I do not know how much longer your lusus will be alive."

Nepeta nodded. She noticed that she was shaking and slightly dazed, having been through so much, but she nodded her head and refocused.

"It's okay, Nidallee," she said softly as she scratched her on the head. "We'll get out of here, Equius is a really good person…" Equius stared at Nepeta and noticed the green blood running down her neck, thick like paint. He felt mixed feelings.

"Let's go. Can you walk?" he asked.

"Yes, I can." She suddenly got down on all fours. "I can run!" Her tail swished furiously.

"Excellent," he replied.

The two of them ran through the forest as quickly as they couold without being too rough on Nidallee. They several times had to diverge off of the main paths to duck into the bushes at Nepeta's direction to avoid the various bluebloods, and at one time ran into hiding greenbloods who displayed fear at the sight of Equius. Nepeta quickly explained that she was not a hostage, but a friend, which made Equius blush a bit as he felt rather uncomfortable with the notion himself still. He smiled nervously in an effort to keep them from screaming, and it seemed to have a calming effect, if not a slightly creepy one.

Despite his intenions, Equius found himself accidentally traveling with a pack of at first three other greenbloods, then five, then seven, then nine as they raced out of there. In time he arrived at his lusus, where a couple ceruleanbloods were waiting, discussing the strange hoofbeast and which one of them would take it for food or whatever they wished should it's owner not arrive in time. Several of the greenbloods scattered into the bushes, while others were not quick enough and simply froze in their sight. Equius, towering over them, glared.

"This is my hoofbeast, and these are my olivebloods." He said very seriously. They half-heartedly saluted him and exchanged a confused look with one another.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why so many? I mean, that's an awful lot of food for one person…"

"It is not your place to know," he said fiercely. He was starting to sweat again, but quickly wiped his face with his cape. "Move on. This forest will be gone soon." The two of them nodded and ran away at a rather relaxed pace.

Equius mounted Nepeta and commanded Nepeta to do the same; she complied and gently removed Nidallee's paws from the chains and laid her on her lap, stroking her head.

"Equius, sir, may we accompany you out of the forest?" an older, female greenblood asked. Equius blushed. More unexpected behavior from lowerbloods. He thought about it for a moment. He assumed that, should any other bluebloods witness it, they would assume that he was simply an excellent gatherer, which he already knew that he was.

"Yes. But you must leave my presence once we exit the forest."

Two of them bowed before him. "Thank you, sir highblood."

Equius smiled a bit and looked away, then composed himself enough to grasp Hecarim's reigns. He whipped them down and commanded Hecarim to run. Nepeta held onto Equius' right shoulder as she supported Nidallee with her left arm.

In a matter of moments, they were finally out of the forest. The sun was now up, and the light was exceptionally unpleasant. Equius raised his glassed to cover his eyes, though it was still harsh through the tinted blue shades.

Several hundred greenbloods surrounded the forest, many of them running sporadically around.

"Where are we supposed to go, Equius?" Nepeta asked. Her voice was shaking.

He paused and looked at the group of roughly twenty olivebloods that had followed them out.

"I suggest you look for a place to stay amongst the lowerbloods, as disgusting as that sounds. There is no place for you here. They will have no choice but to take you in. Before that, however, you should go to the jadebloods. They will take you in until the sun sets once again, then you should take your leave."

They nodded and looked at eachother.

"Nepeta you will come with me. I can provide care for your lusus at my home. She would not survive the journey to the jadebloods."

"Okay…" she agreed softly. At that, they made the trip once again up the mountains.

As the air became colder as they ascended, Nepeta covered Nidallee with Equius' cape, leaving herself to shiver.

Upon turning the corner around the peak that hid his home, he halted Hecarim.

A massive airship hovered above his home, with a long anchor made of heavy chains resting beside it.

* * *

_That must have been a surprise._

* * *

_**2 MONTHS, NINE DAYS, THREE HOURS AND TWENTY-EIGHT SECONDS BEFORE SOME CRITICAL MOMENT**_


End file.
